Excerpt
The bad news was that he was a graduating
class of one. As limiting as that sounded, it really wasn’t such
a bad deal. Sure, a school with only two teachers may not have
been a world-class source of education. His teacher, Mr.
Johansson, who taught all of the subjects except music to the
ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade students, was actually
not your regular country teacher. Mrs. Mayne, who taught all of
the other grades plus music to the older children, was pretty
much what you would expect of a country teacher. Nice lady. A
very nice lady. But other than the two years she spent in
Missoula at the teachers’ college, she wasn’t exactly what you
would call worldly, by any means. She was caring and compassionate,
which were wonderful qualities for a little known teacher
in the country. Mrs. Mayne had come from the community; her
parents had run the post office and general store in Willow
Springs for years. After graduating from high school, Mrs.
Mayne, who was Miss Sally Saturna back then, headed off to
receive her teacher training. Then she returned to Willow Springs
to do exactly what she loved to do the best. Teaching youngsters.
Along the way, she had married Mark Mayne, the county agricultural
crop specialist who she had met and then dated at college in
Missoula. Together, they had two little girls that would soon be
starting school.
Joel’s teacher, Mr. Johansson, was a very unusual man. Tall.
Gangly. Maybe six foot six but not weighing anymore than 170
pounds, he was always dressed formally, as if he was lecturing at
a university. There was no doubt that he was very smart. Some
say that he was so smart that he had won fellowships at university
and had actually taught at university for a number of years.
Joel had heard that Mr. Johansson had a master’s degree in engineering
from the University of Michigan, but he had never heard
that directly from the teacher. It was just what others had said. A
lot of people wondered why, at forty-some years of age, the very
private Mr. Johansson was teaching high school in Willow
Springs, Montana, but no one asked.
Mayanaam
vequinox
Manolis 